diff --git a/compiler/compiler.go b/compiler/compiler.go
index 0ac4cd62..a8a51825 100644
--- a/compiler/compiler.go
+++ b/compiler/compiler.go
@@ -297,14 +297,6 @@ func CompileProgram(pkgName string, lprogram *loader.Program, machine llvm.Targe
 	}
 	irbuilder.CreateRetVoid()
 
-	// Conserve for goroutine lowering. Without marking these as external, they
-	// would be optimized away.
-	realMain := c.mod.NamedFunction(lprogram.MainPkg().Pkg.Path() + ".main")
-	realMain.SetLinkage(llvm.ExternalLinkage) // keep alive until goroutine lowering
-
-	// Replace callMain placeholder with actual main function.
-	c.mod.NamedFunction("runtime.callMain").ReplaceAllUsesWith(realMain)
-
 	// Load some attributes
 	getAttr := func(attrName string) llvm.Attribute {
 		attrKind := llvm.AttributeKindID(attrName)
diff --git a/src/runtime/runtime.go b/src/runtime/runtime.go
index 3a4a8cd8..c648e4f2 100644
--- a/src/runtime/runtime.go
+++ b/src/runtime/runtime.go
@@ -10,8 +10,7 @@ const Compiler = "tinygo"
 // package.
 func initAll()
 
-// callMain is a placeholder for the program main function.
-// All references to this are replaced with references to the program main function by the compiler.
+//go:linkname callMain main.main
 func callMain()
 
 func GOMAXPROCS(n int) int {